Messidor - Week 1: Monochrome without the Monochrom  Messidor is the 10th month of the French Republican calendar, and thus the 10th month of my rolling photo project. The word is based on the Latin for "harvest" because it is the first of the 3 summer months, starting on 19 or 20 June - so these shots were made between then and 20 July 2023. As I had been so impressed with the Leica M10 Monochrome I got and first used in the previous month of Prairial, I decided to spend the first week using my Leica M10 standard and Ricoh GRiii but only shooting in black and white (I thi ..read more

  Dark Selfie - M10 Mono with 50mm Summicron at 50,000 ISO! As I mentioned in Part 1 of Prairial, the month was a very busy one for my photography. Old car detail  - M10 Mono with 50mm Summicron There were a number of reasons for that. The longer days and good weather, and of course the trip to New York, a photographer's dream, which took up so much of Part 1. Window  - M10 Mono with 50mm Summicron But the other reason was that I sold my old Leica M246 Monochrom and bought a used Leica M10 Monochrom - used for all of the shots in this blog post ..read more

1: Leica M10-R & 7Artisans 50/1.1 Internal space - M10-R with 7Artisans 50mm f1.1 Prairial is the ninth month in the French Republican Calendar and thus of year 1 of my rolling photo project. Kitchen - M10-R with 7Artisans 50mm f1.1 It was such a busy month for photography - I have had to break my own rules and produce two blog posts for the one month. At the pub - M10-R with 7Artisans 50mm f1.1 This Part 1 focuses on 3 different things in the first half of the month: (1) Experimenting with the Leica M10-R i had bought in the last month of  along with ..read more

Floréal: Week 1 - Fuji XT3 We have now reached Floréal, the 8th month of the French Republican calendar and my project, running from 20 April to 19 May (2023). For the first week I had a business trip in Singapore. It's a county I always enjoy visiting, and taking photographs of the street life and architecture around. I decided to take my Fuji X-T3 camera, partly because it is small, light with quick autofocus.   Apart from my Leicas, the Fujis (though sometimes the Ricoh GRiiis) are my favourite digital system for all round or street photography ..read more

  Week 1: Fuji Pro 2, 16mm f2.8 & 35mm f1.4 Germinal is the 7th month of the French Republican Calendar.   Starting on 21 March and ending on 19 April (2023). In the first week I used one of my favourite non-Leica digital cameras, the Fuji Pro 2 I bought used in 2022. I use the X-Pro 2 much like I use a Leica M, though I can have autofocus on if I want it. It's small, quite light, black and discreet, and I really like the choice of EVF or optical viewfinder. XPro2 & Caffe, by iPhone 14 If I hadn't got back into the Leica ..read more

Having reached the half way point in my Calendrier Artistique project - a short break. It's August again, and time to remember my Road Trip to Italy last August 2022.  First stop was Metz in North East France, with its Gothic Cathedral. We stopped here for our first evening after driving from London through the tunnel. Then we had to drive through the Alps until our second stop. The Swiss-Italian city of Lugano These photos were taken there. By the third evening we had reached central Italy. And one of my favourite cities, Sienna in Tuscany. The photo above ..read more

 The month of Nivôse is the 4th month in the French Republican Calendar, named after the Latin word nivosus, meaning snowy. But the snow fell in London at the end of the month before - as you see from my Frimaire blog post here. Week 1: Canon P with 35mm Canon LTM f2 lens, Ilford HP5 & Kodak Gold 400 Nivôse started on 21 December 2022 and ended on 19 January 2023.  During the first week I used my black painted Canon P film rangefinder camera from about 1960 -  older than me, but still very handsome. The Canon P is one of my f ..read more

  Month Two of my Calendrier Artistique project is the month of Brumaire The month of Brumaire is named after the French word for fog. It begins on 22 October and ends on 20 November. During the first 10 day week of October we had a long weekend in Malaga where these photos were taken. I took my Leica Q, below with coffee and tickets for the Picasso museum. I really enjoyed using the Leica Q again, a camera I haven't used so much in the last few years.  In fact if I had one complaint it's that is is so good / easy to use I took too many photos with it. It wa ..read more

Hackney Road, Leica M3, & Leitz 50mm Summarit f1.5 lens, Ilford HP5   22 September 2022, or the 1st of Week 1 of Vendémiaire, Year 1, of my Calendrier Artistique project.   The first camera used, in Week 1 of Vendémiaire, is the oldest Leica M film camera I have, a chrome ‘double stroke’ Leica M3 from 1954 – according to the serial number it is one of the first 10,000 ever made, and was made in the first year of the M3. Flypost, Leica M3, & Leitz 50mm Summarit f1.5 lens, Ilford HP5 I used it first with a Leitz 50mm Summarit f1 ..read more

  The 24mp full-frame digital Leica M10 was first introduced in early 2017. It's taken me over 5 years to finally buy a used one. In that time it has been replaced (in 2022) by the 60mp Leica M11. I still think that 24mp is about right for a full frame (35mm style) camera, especially a hand held rangefinder. More megapixels come with advantages and disadvantages - so I'm not sure I would prefer the M11 (I wouldn't mind a 40MP M10-R mind you...). I have used the predecessor to the M10, the Leica M (Typ 240) since it came out in 2012. It still works perfectly today. It's the longe ..read more